reducing expenses in all sectors of city administration. However, local governments often remain reluctant to SMART projects for several reasons. The main factor is the lack of capacity and resources to effectively implement SMART technologies, but sometimes it may be a simple lack of information and understanding regarding the potential of technology. Considering this reluctance, the goal of this report is to identify main trends, but also to gather advice given by city managers around the world based on their own experience. Hereafter, we sum up the main general recommendations that have been highlighted throughout the document to ensure the success of a SMART project.
that face challenges such as frequent power cuts, slower network speeds or system failures. For example, African cities where IT structures are still low should not engage in sophisticated projects, but can instead opt for solutions based on mobile technology, given the prevalent mobile phone and network usage and availability. Other municipalities that wish to avoid heavy IT infrastructure could opt for formats such as SaaS and Cloud Computing which are less expensive and easier to manage. Second, local governments should avoid choosing complex technologies that are not readily available either internally, within the university or local providers, to avoid being constrained to import technology and risking being dependent from international providers. Thirdly, local governments must make sure to have the capacities to follow-up on SMART projects: not to install sensors to collect data, if the city cannot use the data;
not to implement crowdsourcing reporting applications if all incidents reported can’t be addressed, etc.
PREPARATION
Developing and maintaining SMART technology projects can be costly both financially and in terms of human resources. Thus, local governments must follow a few preparation steps to make sure they want to initiate SMART projects, including:
CONCLUSIONS
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To strengthen institutional capacities and invest in skilled human resources.SMART projects usually require highly skilled human resources and bring important organizational changes within the city processes. Besides a lack of technical capacity, it is common to find a lack of motivation of civil servants (and particularly in senior staff) and strong resistance to changes. To ensure that employees are willing and able to use SMART systems, local governments must address organisational efficiencies and ensure to have well-trained and motivated staff by providing:
i) effective communication about the change and benefits it will deliver, ii) training to build awareness and employee confidence in using new systems, iii) associating employees to the project design and implementation to avoid reticence and to ensure endorsement.
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To provide political leadership. Support and commitment from leadership are key to ensure the sustainability of the project, to overcome divergences among city departments, to ensure all stakeholders are on board and to define the appropriate regulatory frameworks.5.
To start with pilot projects in small areas. Pilot projects are particularly important for transformative technologies as they provide proof of concept, test reticence of stakeholders and citizens, and can help leverage funding with central government or other actors for further expansion.6.
To define a clear and flexible legal and regulatory framework. Most legal frameworks regulating issues such as citizen participation, services and goods procurement, or land and building occupation are several decades old. They overlook the opportunities presented by SMART technologies and do not reflect recent innovations. Sometimes local governments may even be reluctant to use digital tools because they believe laws do not allow them. Prior to entering SMART projects, local governments must make sure to adapt the legislation to make room for innovation in city management, they must guarantee enough flexibility to adapt to the quickly changing pace of technologies, and to ensure the project continuity beyond political cycles.7.
To e n s u re d a t a p r i va c y a n d cybersecurity. SMART projects often collect huge amounts of data regarding urban life parameters but also citizens’ habits. While this information is useful for city managers, consumers may be apprehensive towards SMART solutions and devices due to privacy concerns. Open Data policies illustrate well this difficulty: a balance must be found between the need for transparency, making available the data and ensuring protection of privacy.Local governments and service utilities must carefully address data ownership by taking the necessary regulatory measures and working closely to address fears and build trust with users. Managers should also guarantee cyber security of the SMART ICT infrastructure, to protect assets from any hazards such as deliberate cyber security attacks, equipment failures, information theft and natural disasters.
This may be especially challenging issue for smaller cities.
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To carry out the necessary studies, and particularly when the municipality is considering to implement SMART projects in partnership with the private sector. Before looking for a private provider, it is essential to know what the city wants and needs, in order for the private sector to adapt to the demand and offer an adequate product and not the contrary.9.
To ensure systems interoperability and avoid isolated initiatives. On top of the usual selection criteria (improvement compared to the existing solution, value for money, operational costs, etc...), cities should assess to what extent the SMART solution can be integrated into their operations and make sure that it is interoperable with the existing system. Interoperability is crucial because if the solutions are not interoperable, their effectiveness is highly restricted. For instance, a web interface for paying taxes is useless if all the background procedures are still manual; and a SMART management platform is ineffective if it isn’t compatible with existing systems from all the municipal services.CONCLUSIONS
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To cooperate with national government and association of cities. National institutions can assist local governments by supporting the identification of adapted products and solutions by providing information about business cases or checking the reliability of providers. Second, they can strengthen their institutional capacities to develop SMART projects. For instance, they could offer training and technical assistance to the elaboration of feasibility studies, but also propose SMART tools such as ready to use SaaS structure models to cities that have less IT capacity. Third, by putting in place financing mechanisms, legal and regulatory frameworks, and by supporting experimentation and pilot-projects. This is particularly relevant in sectors that need long-term planning and are not always under local governments’responsibilities, such as the energy, building or water. Finally, by defining policies and standards for technological solutions to enable comparability and compatibility between systems. This should ensure vendors offer interoperable services and unlock the benefits of choice of innovation for cities and utilities by avoiding lock-in in one vendor.
COLLABORATION
SMART projects are usually transversal and involve a variety of stakeholders, which means that cooperation is key to ensure their success. Local governments can:
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To ensure dialogue and coordination with multiple stakeholders. Bold projects are often likely to encounter resistance, which is why local governments should ensure a strong dialogue with all actors involved to make sure that all interests are taken into account from the beginning. For example, tax recovery projects that use Mobile Money technology require a strong dialogue with banks and mobile operators; SMART water projects require a collaborative approach between a variety of actors, including other cities sharing the watershed, utilities, residents’associations, etc. In many cases, collaboration with local universities and civil society can bring many benefits to SMART city projects.
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To guarantee integration between city departments. Transversal SMART projects require a holistic and integrated approach. Ensuring consistent communication and data sharing in-between services and government agencies is key. In the case of projects related to revenue collection, for example, integration between departments for payments of fees, fines and taxes, should offer citizens a more convenient experience while also increasing efficiency.CONCLUSIONS
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